Mehdi Karroubi at a mass rally in Tehran after the disputed 2009 Presidential election


Family members say the health of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, under strict house arrest by Iran’s regime since February 2011, is deteriorating.

The relatives said the decline of Karroubi, 82, has deteriorated since the conditions of house arrest after he criticized the Supreme Leader in January.

Karroubi’s son, Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, said his father lost consciousness and fell after a bath on April 25. A doctor from the Intelligence Ministry and emergency medics put him on oxygen and transferred him to the hospital for tests.

Although Karroubi has returned home, Mohammad Taghi said:

Before the incident, father used to walk around a small space in the house for an hour every day. But now it has become very difficult for him to walk; he needs help from others. He has also fallen from the steps on two occasions and on one of them he suffered a hairline fracture in his arm. Physically he’s become very weak.

Despite his advanced age…he used to be healthy and sprightly until he was put under house arrest for all these years. He has had a few operations, too, and has been put under more pressure. Naturally these things wear you down.

Karroubi was detained along with fellow Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading candidate in the 2009 Presidential election “won” by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Mousavi’s wife, activist, artist, and academic Zahra Rahnavard. They were confined amid regime fears in February 2011 of a resurgence of the mass protests that followed the disputed election, in which Karroubi also ran.

The regime has refused to put them on trial, with the Supreme Leader saying that the trio should be grateful that they were not executed.

Mohammad Taghi Karroubi explained, referring to the January 11 letter from his father to the Supreme Leader:

Father’s spirit is very high, as he demonstrated in the last frank words he expressed to Mr. Khamenei. But his body cannot withstand these worsening conditions any longer and we cannot do anything about it. This is the way the regime has decided to behave.

In the letter, Mehdi Karroubi held the Supreme Leader responsible for the killing of 176 people — including more than 100 Iranians — on a Ukrainian passenger jet shot down by the Revolutionary Guards.

The military covered up the downing of the plane for three days, before commanders and President Hassan Rouhani admitted the firing of the missiles. The incident sparked days of protests across Iran over the regime’s deception.

Mehdi Karroubi chided the Supreme Leader:

If you were aware of what had happened and consciously permitted military, security and public relations officials to deceive the people, that would be very bad because it would mean you have none of the qualifications and character traits to lead the country according to the Constitution.

Pray tell, what kind of commander-in-chief are you to allow those under your command to play with the country’s [security] in such a way? It is obvious you lack the necessary wisdom, courage, management skills and power to be a leader.

The regime responded by blocking visits to Karroubi, including by close relatives. His children cannot see him for more than a week, and access to newspaper and satellite TV has been cut.

His son said:

The security establishment is very harsh but they don’t make the decisions. The judiciary has no authority either. They could have held a trial and sentenced them to 10 years in prison and let them go free at the end of their term, for instance.

But nobody knows when the house arrests will end… It’s up to Mr. Khamenei. He isn’t letting go.